Stan Beer
Tuesday, 13 January 2009 15:44
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Eriksson also said that LTE offered better speeds and
capacity than WiMAX and would be in use by many more people around the
world over the next couple of years than WiMAX, thanks to planned
operator rollouts, with WiMAX’s biggest roll-out effectively being in
the US.
He also noted that the WiMAX forum is only
predicting 0.1 billion WiMAX users around the world by 2013, yet
Ericsson expects 1.2 billion global LTE subscribers in the same
timeframe.
Eriksson claimed that Clearview, the main company behind WiMAX in the
US, had already committed to moving to LTE in the future, although its
main backer Intel might have something to say about that, especially
given the fact Intel is a US $1.6b investor in Clearview.
WiMAX was originally Intel’s way of delivering a 4G-like technology
that wasn’t in the clutches of the mobile manufacturers and telcos, but
after years of WiMAX delays, LTE has caught up to what WiMAX offers and
rather than being due in 2011 or beyond, LTE will be rolled out by some
telcos at the end of 2009 with more LTE networks to come in 2010.
Clearly as a proponent of LTE, Ericsson believes LTE is the future and
will prevail over WiMAX, especially given AT&T will fiercely
compete against the US WiMAX rollout using LTE technology.
In Australia, Telstra is also an LTE supporter, as are many other carriers around the world.
When you listen to Ericsson, the cards all stack up for LTE over WiMAX,
and you do have to wonder – why has WiMAX taken so long to truly be
delivered? It’s late, and it does have a future, but LTE and its
successor, LTE Advanced, at present look to be the inevitable winners.
CONTINUED Page 3
